WATERLOO – As Canada moves into the 21st century, the collection and use of “Big Data” is becoming increasingly important not only to computer science but also to the humanities and social sciences.

As part of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s (SSHRC) series of regional events highlighting insights from their “Imagining Canada’s Future” challenge, Western University is sponsoring a full-day event on Saturday, March 15 that will address “Big Data in the SSHRC disciplines: Data from the past, present, and future.”

Laurier researchers Colin Robertson (www.thespatiallab.org), assistant professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, and Andriy Shkilko, associate professor, School of Business and Economics, will participate in a series of presentations during the afternoon. Robertson will focus on his work on geosocial pattern analysis in the context of understanding urban spaces, and Shkilko will discuss his work in data and analysis in equity trading.

“Laurier researchers are leveraging the opportunities and challenges of digital scholarship and applying the resources of big data to their investigations,” said Abby Goodrum, vice-president: research. “This is an interdisciplinary approach we are keen to develop at Laurier.”

Other researchers presenting at the March 15 event are from Western, the University of Waterloo and the University of Guelph. The morning session will feature industry representatives from IBM and GCI Canada.

According to Western SSHRC leader Andrew Nelson, “Our challenge as we move farther into the 21st century is to bring humanities and social sciences researchers together into a truly interdisciplinary collaboration with computer scientists to equip our scholars to exploit this data to the fullest.”

As part of SSHRC’s “Imagining Canada’s Future” regional event series, Laurier is hosting “Every citizen an environmental scientist: How Canadian families can protect nature by using their smartphones, and have fun doing it,” on Monday, March 17, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. For further information about this event and to register, visit http://imagining.eventbrite.ca.